10 things in tech you need to know today, August 1

Lady
Gaga is rumoured to be attending this year’s Google summer
camp.
AP

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this
Wednesday.

1. Apple
beat profit and revenue expectations with impressive earnings on
Tuesday, and it hinted at a big September iPhone
launch. Apple’s revenue growth from services
was a particular highlight, rising 31% year over year to $9.54
billion.

2.
Martin Tripp, the ex-Tesla employee Elon Musk called a ‘horrible
human being’, slapped the company with a countersuit alleging
defamation. Tripp is a former employee at
Tesla’s Gigafactory, and filed a countersuit against the company
alleging that Tesla is not living up to its mission to improve
the environment.

3.

Facebook detected a coordinated effort to influence US politics
ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Facebook told
lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the effort this week, but said it
doesn’t know definitively who is behind it.

4. Apple
sold 13% fewer Macs this quarter, proving that its future hinges
on the iPhone and iPad. While Apple says that
it’s investing in the Mac, it’s also had a series of MacBook
Pro-related embarrassments that have caused some to doubt its
focus.

5.
MoviePass is imposing new restrictions to its app as it tries to
cut its cash burn. It’s no longer guaranteeing
that every movie showtime will be available on the app, CEO Mitch
Lowe told customers on Tuesday.

6. Apple
CEO Tim Cook hit out
at President Trump’s tariffs, saying they translate to a tax for
the consumer. He said that the tariffs haven’t
hurt Apple yet, though the company is analyzing whether or not
the latest round of proposed tariffs could have direct or
indirect impacts on its business.

7.
Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s are holding their
annual seaside hoop-la, the star-studded Google
Camp. Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Matthew
McConaughey, and Bradley Cooper are all rumoured to be guests at
the get-together, which is taking place in Sicily.

8.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said Wikipedia is “absolutely
never” going to get involved with
cryptocurrency. That’s after Wales appeared at
a blockchain conference to give a talk, but he said he had doubts
about the technology.

9.
Former Tesla employees are suing the company alleging
discrimination, harassment, and a system where SolarCity
employees faked sales numbers. Three former
Tesla energy salespeople claim they were subject to harassment,
discrimination, and inadequate pay in a lawsuit against the
company filed on July 25 in San Diego County Superior Court.

10.
Google’s parent company just reached an agreement with Toronto to
plan a $50 million high-tech neighborhood. On
Tuesday, Waterfront Toronto’s board unanimously agreed to work
with Sidewalk Labs (an arm of Google’s parent company Alphabet)
to develop a 12-acre swath of the city into a high-tech
neighborhood.

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